Читать книгу Man of the Hour: Night Of Love - Diana Palmer - Страница 5

Steven Ryker paced his office at Ryker Air with characteristic energy, smoking a cigarette that he hated while he turned the air blue in quiet muttering. A chapter of his life that he’d closed the door on four years past had reopened, leaving his emotional wounds bare and bleeding.

Meg was back.

He didn’t recognize his own fear. It wasn’t a condition he’d ever associated with himself. But things had changed. He’d gone through a period of mourning when Meg had walked out on him to begin a balletic career in New York. He’d consoled himself with woman after willing woman. But in the end, he’d been alone with the painful memories. They hurt, and because they still hurt, he blamed Meg. He wanted her to suffer as he had. He wanted to see her beautiful blue eyes fill with tears, he wanted to see pain on that exquisite face framed by soft blond hair. He wanted consolation for the hell she’d put him through by leaving without a word when she’d promised to be his wife.

He put out the cigarette. It was a habit, like loving Meg. He hated both: cigarettes and the blond memory from his past. He’d never had a woman jilt him. Of course, he’d never asked a woman to marry him, either. He’d been content to live alone, until Meg had kissed him in gratitude for the present he’d given her when she turned eighteen. His life had turned over then.

Their fathers, hers and his, had become business partners when Meg was fourteen and her brother, David, just a little older. The families had developed a closeness that tied their lives together. Meg had been a sweet nuisance that Steven had tolerated when he and David had become best friends. But the nuisance grew up into a beautiful, regal woman who’d melted the ice around his hard heart. He’d given everything he was, everything he had, to Meg. And it hadn’t been enough.

He couldn’t forgive her for not wanting him. He couldn’t admit that his obsession with her had all but cost him his sanity when she left. He wanted vengeance. He wanted Meg.

There would be a way to make her pay, he vowed. She’d hurt her leg and couldn’t dance temporarily. But that ballet company she worked for was in real financial straits. If he played his cards right, he might yet have that one magical night in Meg’s arms that he’d dreamed of for years. But this time, it wouldn’t be out of love and need. It would be out of vengeance. Meg was back. And he was going to make her pay for what she’d made of him.